Sony Playstation 3
Sony Playstation 3 Review:
The Sony play station 3 comes more than a year after Microsoft released its Xbox 360. This long duration has given Sony plenty of time to polish the play station 3 into a better console with lots of new features. The play station 3 is way much pricier and comes in two variants just like the Xbox 360. Both the variants use the new Cell processor and have an inbuilt blu-ray player along with HDMI video output. The baseline version has a 20GB hard disk and retails for $500. The step up deluxe model, that costs $100 more than the baseline model, has a 60GB hard disk and has additional features such as built in WiFi and multi-format card reader.
Similar to the Xb0x 360 and Nintendo Wii, you can keep the PS3 either vertically or horizontally. The PS3 measures 12.8X3.8X10.8 inches and weighs 11 pounds, which is bit more than Xbox 360’s 9.9 pounds. With PS3 you don’t need an external power supply. It comes with an included power cable that is similar to the power cable that comes with a PC. All that you have to do is to plug it and get going.
On the front side of the console, there are four USB ports. You can use these ports to connect controllers and other accessories like thumb drives, USB keywords, etc. The card reader that comes in the pricier $600 model can read cards from Sony’s entire Memory stick family and it also reads Compact Flash and SD/MMC cards.
On the backside, there are the ports for Ethernet, HDMI output and optical audio output. The internal hard drive is replaceable. However the PS3 uses 2.5 SATA drives that are much pricier than the conventional hard drives that are used in PCs.
The PS3 controller is similar to the PlayStation 2 Dual shock game pad but there are some enhanced features. Firstly, it is wireless and you can connect as many as 7 controllers using Bluetooth. You can recharge the controller by connecting it to the console by using the USB cable. Once fully recharged, the controller will last up to 30 hours of game play. However there is a small disadvantage: the battery of the controller is not replaceable. This means that if the battery gets damaged over time, you will have to buy a new controller.
Though there are a few minus points, the PS3 is a very good console that will live up to your expectation from a modern console. It will cater well for your entertainment needs. The PS3 serves the purpose of a Blu-ray player for less than half the price than conventional players from Samsung, Panasonic and ironically Sony itself. And what’s more you an also surf the internet using the PS3 as it has added enhancements to WebTV.
Given the long lines, the campouts, and the $600 price tag, the PS3 has high expectations to live up to. The press hasn't exactly been kind to Ken Kuturagi's hyperbole and some of the design and strategy decisions they've made with the system, but consumers are still loyal to the Sony and PlayStation names. Microsoft is hoping Sony drops the ball, and Nintendo has decided the best way to win is to play a different game altogether; their low-cost system relies more on a unique control scheme than the laundry list of features that Sony is hoping will interest gamers.
The PlayStation 3 Controller: The new wireless, motion-sensitive SixAxis controller lacks force feedback, but it's lighter than the PlayStation 2's controller and has larger L2 and R2 triggers. And because the PS3's controller can sense motion along six axes, you can turn and tilt in three-dimensional space to steer in driving or flying games. I've had limited opportunity to test the controller's motion aspects so far. Earlier this year, I played the upcoming game War Hawk at the E3 conference, where the PS3 was shown. But a few of the launch games, such as Ridge Racer 7, should invite extensive use of the motion-sensing capability.
Sony PlayStation 3 (60GB) Full specifications:
- Type: Game console
- Weight - Height: 11 lbs - 3.9 in
- Media Type: BD-ROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM
- CPU: IBM Cell Processor 3.2 GHz, RISC Instruction set, PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
- Memory / Storage: 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz - 25.6GB/s installed, 60 GB HDD Capacity. Virtual memory card capabilities save your old PS1/PS2 games.
- Video / GPU: NVidia RSX @550MHz 256 MB 1920 x 1080, Full HD x 2 channels Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines.
- Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, Stream audio and video to your PS3
- Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2), Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR), 4x USB2.0 ports, Motion sensing wireless Bluetooth controller.
- This product is equipped with the HDMI 1.3 feature which offers twice the bandwidth (10.2Gbps vs. 4.95Gbps) of current HDMI. This means it supports 10-bit, 12-bit, and 16-bit color depths while current HDMI supports only 8-bit color.
- Dimensions: 325mm (w) x 98mm (h) x 274mm (d)
February 17th, 2007 at 8:51 am
The first thing which struck me when i had a look at the PS3 was Sony PS3 was a clear winner in the design department.The specs are high end and even though the inclusion of the Blu-Ray drive did drive the cost up it also made the PS3 a complete next gen console to begin with.
The ability to add your own drive to the PS3 is a welcome feature. While most of the first generation on the PS3 which i saw looked pretty much on par with the 360 i do expect future games to look even better and stunning.
I liked the fact that the controller is almost the same as that of the PS2.I did not like the boomerang style controller which i saw at E3.The console does seem to be less noisier and the slot loading drive makes it look futuristic.
looks apart the games will decide the winner between the PS3 and xbox 360.However initial delays have cost PS3 lot of sales. Hopefully upcoming games later this year will help them more than makeup for it.
If Sony manages to manufacture PS3 at a lower cost and transfer the benefit to the consumer in the form of price cut, it will help attract more consumers to their product.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Sony Playstation 3 I only dreamed about that day ever since I lay my hand the Playstation 2. Sony really outdone themselves this time and in my opinion the Sony Playstation 3 will be the most successful gamming console out of the 3 leading Titans. It’s unique sleek look alone got my attention and after seeing it in action The graphics blew me away and made me ignore the price tag placed on the Sony Playstation 3 60gb so I acquired the “Sony Playstation 3â€, a very good investment on my part.
February 17th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
In Australia, I think PS3 delays have cost it a lot in terms of sales. It has a lot of great features and should sell a lot, but with the Wii getting to market first it may be tough for them to catch up.
February 18th, 2007 at 4:41 am
Who doesn’t want a Sony Playstation 3? I know I sure do and I will definitely be getting one within the next month or two. I have been planning to buy the Sony Playstation 3 since before Christmas, but I had to wait until afterward because of shopping for presents. But now I am almost ready to get one and I am truly excited about it.
Until I read about the Sony Playstation 3 I didn’t realize that the game controllers were wireless! Man, that is great! I am certain that my grandson will want to have a Sony Playstation 3 as well so I plan to buy two of them.